End Of Summer Regulatory Round-Up

As summer comes to an end, here is a round-up of regulatory activities in financial services:

• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Sues Synapse. The fintech filed for bankruptcy in April 2024 has been sued by the CFPB on August 21 for unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act. As readers may recall, Synapse was a middle-ware fintech that offered services involving maintaining ledgers for accounts consumers opened through other fintechs. The funds for the accounts were held in "for the benefit of" accounts at depository institutions, which means that transactions consumers effected through the accounts held by fintechs were not recorded by the banks, but rather were supposed to be maintained in ledgers by Synapse. When Synapse filed for bankruptcy, they ceased providing access to their ledgers and consumers were left without any access to their funds. Further, the amounts consumers thought they had in their